With Georgiana now becoming a proper little person I’m always on the look out for things to help aid interaction between her and Francesca. Toys they can play with together are few and far between so a great way to keep them engaged with each other is to have them independently playing at the same level… which can be pretty hard considering Georgie is still a fair way off sitting up. Enter the answer to our problems… a Bumbo Floor Seat!

About a month ago we were sent a Bumbo Floor Seat to review and have loved every second of it! We received the seat in the Lilac colour and happily accepted the Bumbo Play Tray as well. One of the best things about Bumbo is that there is NO setting up. Open one box and plonk the seat on the floor, open another box and click two play tray pieces together, slot together – done. Even the safety strap adjuster is really easy to get right. One big tick already for Bumbo!

We actually had a Bumbo for Francesca when she was a baby and she loved it, but we had to give it away when we moved as we had no room to store it. The recent addition of the safety strap has definately given me piece of mind when I’ve been playing with both the girls and I’m not always able to have my hands as free as I’d like. I originally thought it might get in the way but so far so good!

The guide for the best time to start using a Bumbo is when your baby can support their own head, as Georgie is slightly behind with her strength and control we didn’t start using it until she was 4 and a half months so I was slightly worried it might be a bit of squeeze for her to get her legs in etc. I needn’t of worried as she comfortably slotted in and now at 5 and a half months still doesn’t seem squashed at all. She looks really steady and comfy when using it, and we’ve slowly build up the time she spends in from 4/5 minutes to 15 minutes or more.

As I said before it really has been a massive help in aiding Francesca (at nearly 2 and and half) and Georgie in interacting with each other. Frankie can sit infront of Georgie and chat away to(or at!) her, pass her toys, hold up things for her to look at and play peekaboo. Although a bouncy chair or swing is also good for this I find with the Bumbo they are at a similar eyeline to each other and Francesca doesn’t have to lean over Georgie to catch her attention.

My favourite thing about the Bumbo is the ability to add the Play Tray – On the days that Francesca is at nursery it can be pretty hard to keep Georgie entertained while I do the housework or make dinner. The Play Tray means I can pop Georgie on the floor in whatever room I’m in with a few toys to entertain her on the tray, she has the freedom to touch lots of different things and if she drops them they stay right in front of her. The whole Bumbo is so light and compact that I can easily carry it in one hand while I have Georgie in the other and move from room to room.

Now we’ve started weaning Georgiana I’ll be using the Bumbo as a temporary highchair, she’s nowhere near sturdy enough for a normal highchair and I find that her bouncy chair reclines too far for her to comfortably feed. It really does have so many uses.

I can honestly say that we love our Bumbo: it’s comfortable, doesn’t look horrible sitting in your living room, can be used for a number of scenarios and lasts a long time. There really isn’t anything I’d change about it and since the day we put Francesca in one I’ve been recommending it to friends. Big huge 10 out of 10 from us!

Emma’s Diary have a great deal over on their site where you can purchase a Bumbo for £29.99. That’s a massive £10 saving!

Disclaimer: We were sent a Bumbo for the purposes of this review but all photos and words are my own, and all opinions are honest.

Francesca and Georgiana’s bedrooms have recently started to take shape. A few days before Gee was born we made over Frankie’s bedroom and made a start on the nursery, since then we’ve slowly been adding bits to make them special and I’m always on the look out for things to perfect them. When Personalised Gifts Boutique contacted me to see if we’d like to review one of their poster prints I was delighted… although I had a pretty tough time deciding which one of the girls would get one of the beautiful posters in their bedroom!

 

I picked out the pink ballet shoes print for Georgiana in the end and sent off my details for personalisation. It’s really easy to order – you just provide a name, date, time and location of birth and weight. I was pretty impressed in the turnaround time (about a week) and it was delivered in a poster tube which meant it arrived with us in perfect condition. So many times I’ve ordered things like this and they’ve arrived a bit shoddy around the edges, it was lovely to see they’d thought about the end result. It was packaged beautifully in pink tissue paper and had it of been a gift I’d of happily handed it over just like that – no need for wrapping or a gift bag.

I loved the way Georgiana’s first name was larger than the rest of the print and the simple lettering meant it slotted perfectly in to her small nursery. Same goes for the background – no garish prints or colours just simplicity. The posters are printed on good quality paper and fit standard A3 frames – I found using the Ribba frame from Ikea perfect.

You can tell that this company is run by a family as they’ve really thought about what fits in a nursery and have come up with tons of designs – I can’t image you won’t be able to find something to fit in your home. At £25 for a poster I think it’s a pretty affordable gift and I would of loved to receive one for either of my girls. Visit them here and if I were you I’d check out the beautiful personalised crates they do aswell – they’re added to my home wishlist without a doubt!

Disclaimer: We were sent a personalised print for the purpose of this review, no other incentive was received. All words and opinions are my own.

 

I am a sucker for baby clothes. The soft material, tiny little arm holes and cute designs turn me to jelly and when we hauled Francesca’s old clothes out of storage in preparation for Georgiana’s impending arrival I shed more than a few tears. I had carefully saved almost all of Fran’s baby clothes and had even had the foresight to organise them in to boxes by size (a rare smug Mum moment thankyou). But when I started to sort through the piles of sleepsuits, vests and rompers I realised some of the stuff just couldn’t be anyone’s but Fran’s. A few items held a too strong memory so I packed those away in to her memory box and started to sift through the remainder.

It turns out I had rose tinted glasses with a fair few bits and pieces, the necks were stained with baby sick and milk on lots of tops and almost anything white had tell tale yellow marks from poospolosions! We were lucky that we only had a few gaps in her wardrobe, it seemed the sleepuits and vests had taken the worst hit so I went on a mission to find some lovely new things, just for her!

I came across The Essential One through twitter and was more than delighted when they asked if I’d like to try out one of there sleepsuit packs. I asked for a surprise design and loved the stripey, spotty brights pack that arrived soon after. It was packaged beautifully and to my surprise came with a drawstring bag to keep the sleepsuits in. The little touches really make a difference, and we’ve used the bag almost daily since it arrived to keep a spare set of clothes in the changing bag.

The first thing that struck me about the sleepsuits was just how soft they are, they’re by far the loveliest feeling sleepsuits that we’ve had for either of the girls and the material was just spot on. The next thing was just how bright they were, the colours pop and aren’t the boring standard we’ve all come to expect from baby clothes. We were sent the 3 suits in 0-3 Months and she is still comfortable in them at nearly 4 and a half months. Although Gee is a pretty small baby I’d say they are generous in size and she’s now outgrown all her other 0-3 sleepsuits, this is obviously fab if you’re worried about sizing to small!

 

After a fair bit of wear they have without a doubt passed the ‘Mum Test’ – they wash fantastically. We’ve had no shrinkage and the colours have remained bright and neat. They’re cosy, in the evenings when Georgiana sleeps in bed with me we don’t put her in a vest underneath as she seems warm enough, so in the summer I’d be more than happy to put her in her own cot with only one of the suits on.

The little things are great too: the integrated scratch mitts are lovely and roomy, and even my Houdini baby finds it impossible to wriggle free from them. The poppers aren’t at all fiddly to pop and unpop, and the feet have lots of space for wriggling toes. The price point is pretty pleasant too! The 3 packs of sleepsuits are around £18 and the gorgeous vests work out at around £3 each!!!

All in all I’d give The Essential One a big thumbs up, I’m ready to order Gee’s 3-6 month wardrobe from them and even fancy throwing in one of their beautiful stripey blankets!

Disclaimer: We were sent a 3 pack of sleepsuits for the purpose of this review but I received no other payment. All opinions, words and photos are my own.